1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to a pressure absorbing contact and a connector using the same, and particularly to an electrical contact which can absorb insertion pressure (friction) from a corresponding male contact of an external complementary connector thus considerably eliminating removal of gold coated thereon upon insertion of the complementary connector into the related connector in which a plurality of the same absorbing contacts are installed.
2. The Prior Art
Complementary connector assemblies are frequently used for board to board connection in an electrical assembly. Conventional complementary connector assemblies usually include a male connector and a female connector defining two openings allowing the male connector to be inserted therein from two directions corresponding to the two openings. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,475 discloses complementary connectors, wherein the male connector has a plurality of integral contacts and the female connector includes a plurality of spaced passageways which respectively and securely retain U-shaped contacts therein. Each integral contact of the male connector is mechanically enclosed by and electrically engaged with a corresponding U-shaped contact of the female connector when the male connector is engaged with the female connector. However, the fabrication of the U-shaped contact of the female connector requires a considerable amount of raw materials which increases manufacturing costs. Another disadvantage is that the large engagement area between the integral contact of the male connector and the U-shaped contact of the female connector combined with a shortage of contact elasticity therebetween usually erodes the gold-coated surface of the contacts which accordingly increases oxidization on the contacts thereby deteriorating the conductive effect between the two connectors.
Another example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,883, wherein a male connector has an integral contact while a female structure has an improved contact which has an inclined elastic arm having a protrusion for replacing the contacting method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,475. The elastic arm of the improved contact made by a stamping process has a curved portion extending from an engaging portion (a plate with barbs) thereof for providing elasticity to the gold-coated contacting section. However, the elasticity insufficiently eliminates the erosion of the coated gold, thus the engaging portion of each contact has to be interferentially fit within the corresponding housing cavity wall in order to obtain pre-pressure therefrom for facilitating insertion of the corresponding male contact. Therefore, when the elastic contacts of the female connector are installed in the corresponding housing passageway, drawbacks such as time inefficiency and lower yield will invariably result. Other disclosures such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,715,819 and 4,975,062 encounter the same problems.
Therefore, it is requisite to provide a new structure for elastic contacts to solve the mentioned problems in order to promote electrical engagement efficiency.